Strange Memories
by A. Hope Never Forgotten
Summary: Artemis meets Louisa who seems to know more about fairies and magic than most people. When she gets kidnapped by a sprite conducting experiments on humans and fairies, Artemis begins to unravel Louisa's mysterious past. Will Artemis to connect the dots in time to save Louisa and keep the People from being exposed?
1. Dancing is Hazardous to Your Feet

**Doing this fanfic over because the first time was horrible. Hopefully this time will be better, but please do leave your comments on it :) They're all apprceiated. This is also set in some fake time between the books; it's just one of those random "What if" thoughts you get and I just wrote mine into a story. Hope you like it xx**

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The whole ninth grade was in the gym St. Bartleby's. It had slightly scuffed wood flooring and some windows high above the padded walls. I was sitting on the top bleacher towards the corner to maintain a distance from the ruckus of the rest of the grade.

I did not know why my parents insisted on me coming back to St. Bartleby's. I asked Holly about it but she told me that my parents wanted to keep me busy and out of trouble. Perhaps that was the idea. Maybe they just wanted me to have some kind of normal teenage human communication.

"Settle down, everyone," said the headmaster. The chattering and talking of the teenagers on the bleachers slowly died down and ceased. "I have an announcement to make."

He was a different one from the one that headed the school a few years ago. He seemed more strict and bland, but was a bit looser with rule-breaking than he let on. He was wearing his usual suit, but with a green and blue (the school colors) striped tie which was unusually bright and school spirited for him. He cleared his throat and continued with his announcement.

"This year, for the Spring Festival, we are going to have a Victorian themed ball." A whoop of excitement went through the crowd of teenagers. This must be much better than what they had last year for them to be this excited for such an old-style ball.

"You are all going to learn the dances of that era, which will include the Waltz." Now, the crowd groaned. I hid a smirk. Perhaps not much better than last year.

The headmaster frowned slightly and continued, "There will also be etiquette classes." Whilst he said this, he looked pointedly at an especially raucous group of boys on the bottom bleachers. Despite St. Bartleby's being a very exclusive school, about 69.3% of the student body were very loud and disorderly, though the pranks they pulled off were very different from those performed at other schools.

I remember once, the last time I studied at this dreadful school, a callow boy made a sort of pigmenting concoction that he mixed into the teacher's coffee. It turned the teacher's skin dark blue and his hair turned a violent shade of pink. To say the least he was furious and quit the very next day they found an antidote.

The headmaster adjusted his tie and continued, "Another requirement is that you will all have to learn how to sew and make your own era costumes. Young ladies must make and wear dresses and young men must make a suit."

The reaction to this part of the announcement varied from many different emotions. Some people cheered and others moaned. Most were unusually quiet. One very colorful girl in the front row squeaked, "Yes!" and threw her hands in the air. Unfortunately for her (but rather entertaining for the rest of the student population) she had managed to knock off her glasses in her excitement. She dropped to the floor and groped around for her glasses before finding them and arranging the spectacles on her face. She plopped down on the bench and ostentatiously crossed her legs, as if to pretend the situation had not happened.

The headmaster, pinching the bridge of his nose, and a good number of the kids in the bleachers stared at this whole hullabaloo while it happened. The girl looked around the crowd, saw everyone was watching her, and plastered a huge smile on her face which was turning bright red.

A few of the kids started to laugh but a glare from the headmaster quieted them. He flipped through the papers he was holding and said, "I will now announce the partners. If you learn everything correctly and efficiently and, of course, behave, you might be able to pick new partners. If not, you're stuck with whomever you're assigned. After I finish, you and your partner will walk over to the ballroom to start your dancing lessons. Alek and Deyn. Siva and Nareesha. Artemis and Stellarina Louisa." He continued to name off the partners.

I made my way carefully down the bleachers and walked towards the door. There the flamboyant girl that had caused the commotion was waiting. Up close I could see just how gaudy she was. Her scarlet hair was extremely curly and her pale skin was freckled. Her eyes were bright emerald green. The rest of her uniform was accented in a wild mix of blue and green.

"Hi, I'm Louisa," she said with a slightly annoyed expression.

Taking in her irritated appearance, I assumed she was annoyed at the headmaster announcing her full first name instead of her nickname and voiced as much not without a bit of sarcasm.

She scowled at me and muttered to herself. "Why me? Of course I'm going to get the asshole as my partner." Then she marched outside to the ballroom without waiting for me.

"Well this going to be fun," I muttered as I followed her out to the ballroom.

Outside the air was fresh and clean. Louisa set out at a very fast pace, almost as if to get away from me. I almost had to run across one of the courtyards that separate the buildings to keep her within eyesight. The school had been renovated completely and I still have not learned my way around it. I almost stepped in more than a few mud puddles from the earlier rain following Louisa. She disappeared into a large stained-glass building I assumed was the ballroom.

The inside of the ballroom was as large and grand as the outside. The floor was made of shiny, patterned wood and seemed to stretch for miles on end though it was probably only a few hundred feet long. Sunlight streamed in through the stained-glass window leaving bright patches of gleaming colors on the glossy floor.

"Hurry up Artemis! They're about to start." Louis called impatiently from the middle of the hall close by the group of teenagers waiting and chattering

I frowned and kept walking at my normal pace. When I reached the spot where Louisa was waiting, she gave a sharp sigh and rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

All the kids had arrived, so the instructor began to explain how to do our first dance: The Waltz. Lucy and I stood towards the back of the crowd, waiting for the instructor to finish. Finally, the instructor was done explaining how to do the Waltz and sent us off to try and dance.

Louisa silently walked over to a spot in the middle of the hall in the sunlight of one of the windows. The music started played and the wonderful instrumental music filled the hall.

Louisa clapped her hands together. "So… How 'bout I act as if you've stepped on my toes and go to the nurse for the rest of class. Then you can just sit here for the rest of class," she said brightly and with a huge fake smile.

I let myself smirk just a bit and said sarcastically, "Am I just that charming?"

Louisa's smile became more forced and she said through slightly clenched teeth, "Oh, you're hilarious." She punched my arm to what may seem to other people playfully, but was actually enough to cause a bruise that will probably be on my arm for weeks to come. I didn't let the pain show on my face, but Louisa smirked as if she knew how awful my arm was hurting.

"Hey, you two! Quit flirting and dance!" the dance instructor shouted from across the hall.

We started dancing as far apart as possible. I just barely heard Louisa grumble, "Mindless idiot," as we started to dance. If the insult was directed to the teacher or to me, I do not know.

We danced awkwardly and silently for a small amount of time before I said a bit angrily, "Do try to keep your feet off mine; I just had these shoes polished."

As I should have known she would do, Louisa purposely stepped on my foot so hard I winced. "Oh, these classes are going to be so _fun_."

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**So thoughts? It's a bit of an out there idea but I was never one to be normal. Bonus points if you got the Leviathan and The Wanted hints haha ;)**


	2. Dangerous Memories

**Updating early because I'm too eager haha! I have a few other chapters written out, ready to be edited, so I might update around once a week til I run out of those. Then I'll update whenever I can because school starts for me next week ugh. Love how I could've started this at the begining of summer but instead I spent all summer stalking celebrities on twitter. And I mean stalking in the most non-creepy way possible :-))))) FANGIRL AND PROUD.**

**Dedication: Those who start school soon or have started. Be strong; not everyone is as nice as us.**

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**Artemis's POV **

I looked at the door next to me and then quickly checked my watch. It was now 11:30 PM and Louisa had still not arrived. I looked around the ball room at the couples dancing as best they could. One person in a pair nearby tripped on his feet and nearly went tumbling to the polished wood floor. The instructors kept shouting out words of encouragement to such couples, comically enough as they acted like everyone's personal cheerleader complete with movements and the odd rhyme.

The old entrance door squeaked. I stumbled back into the wall to avoid being hit by the gigantic door. Louisa strolled into the room as if she were right on time and not a half hour late. She walked to the makeshift coat hook to the left of the door.

"Where have you been?" I said a touch angrily. "The dance lesson is nearly over."

Louisa took off her soaked rain hat and hung it. "The later I am, the less time I have to see you."

"Well then, you certainly must know that the grade for this is a_ shared_." I deadpanned to keep my anger in check. "If you fail, then so do I."

She stared at me square in the face. "No shit, Sherlock," Louisa spat back. She turned her attention back to her rain coat. "One would think you'd die if you were to get one bad grade." She struggled with her rain slicker and muttered a curse.

I rolled my eyes and tapped my foot impatiently.

After a bit more struggling, Louisa managed to free herself from her wet raincoat. Today her costume-of-a-uniform was midnight blue with bits of silver. Her hair was clearly not on good terms with the rain; it was double the size yesterday because of the high humidity. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a wig.

The school had very loose rules for the uniform. It must be some shade of the school colors; green, white, and blue. And as long as you had the basics –skirt/pants, button-up shirt, tie, vest—you could wear whatever you felt like. The rules also stated no hair and makeup restrictions.

All these measures were "to ensure the students felt comfortable in their learning environment." All it really caused was girls trying to be more fashionable than each other to try to win the adoration of the popular jock boys. As one would think, this made many of the girls dress rather scantily with heavy makeup and boys very sloppy.

I stepped to an empty spot on the floor and Louisa followed. As she walked, she reached over her shoulder to her back and pulled a long silver ribbon from somewhere behind her. A few seconds later a pair of giant blue and silver fairy wings popped open with a shower of glitter.

I raised my eyebrow slightly. "Fairy wings?"

Louisa shook her wings and more glitter fell to the floor. "Lost a bet. I thought my friend wouldn't run around campus dressed as a disco queen but she somehow found the courage to do it. She's got some mean disco moves. But I lost," she said casually but you could still hear the annoyance of losing in her voice.

"Any other obvious things to point out and/or subsequent insults…?" She let question hang in the air just like some of the glitter that had yet to settle.

"No, I think I am done," I said taking a bit of pity on her for losing her bet. But only a bit. "For now," I amended my sentence.

The song playing ended and the instructor put another one on. It was a bit more fast-paced and jolly. Louisa sighed silently and put her arms out to dance. I mimicked her position and started dancing.

Now that I actually look at her costume wings, they look so like Holly's mechanical ones. Same dragon fly wings shape, same details, same… movements? It seemed as if Louisa's wings were beating slowly as we moved awkwardly across the floor.

"Are your wings mechanical?" I asked casually, if not slightly bored.

A swell in the music told us to twirl our partners. I had to curve my arm to keep from getting hit by Louisa's wings. As Louisa twirled, her hair flew up and her ears were visible. But they were a peculiar thing, her ears, for it seemed that in that moment they were pointed like a fairy's. She stopped spinning and came back to dancing. Pointed ears? On Louisa? No, it must have been my mind running wild; something my subconscious came up with; perhaps it was part of her bet. She's much too tall to be a fairy anyways.

"No," she replied. "I tried to do that once, though. Didn't work out too well. Gossamer and eyebrows catch fire very easily. Why do you ask?" I noticed she had a Boston accent when she pronounced gossamer as "gossamah."

I shook my head a little. "It just seemed as if they were moving." I said distractedly.

Louisa gave me a bored look. "_We're_ moving. Of course my wings are gonna move." She scoffed and shook her head. "Poor disillusioned Artemis." She pronounced my name as "Ah-temis" because of her accent.

Again the music swelled to another crescendo. I put my arm up and out so Louisa could twirl. Her red hair flew around her and I could clearly see that her ears were indeed pointed.

When she came back I had to ask, "Are your earspointed by any chance?"

Louisa scowled. "Yes. They didn't make childhood very fun, I'll tell you that. Most kids thought I was Tinkerbell and always asked where Peter Pan was. And as I know you're probably curious, I got it from my mother."

Well," I shrugged. "You've got me curious now and anything is better than the rambling of the dance instructors; I learned of this dance a long time ago. Does your mother work here with your father?" I tried to sound bored but was somewhat glad at not to be arguing for once.

Louisa appeared sort of befuddled for a moment. "No, she doesn't. My father said she died when I was little. But he doesn't even have a picture of her come to think of it…" She slowed her dancing. Her eyes looked as if she were looking at another place, another person, another time.

"Wait. I do remember her. I do remember!" She seem shocked at her own remembrance, oddly. We used to live here, somewhere in deep the forest. There was a giant oak tree by a stream that bent around our house." Louisa stopped dancing and dropped her arms. "My mum and I used to always go outside during a full moon, at midnight for some reason… There were always little people there with us. They always came from Tara… or was it from underground?" Louisa's eyes got really wide. "Wait… not just people. They were The P-." In the middle of her last word, Louisa's eye rolled into her head and she collapsed to the floor.

The instructor turned off the music when he noticed Louisa had fallen. Some of the students around us also saw Louisa collapse and were coming over. Louisa shakily propped herself up on her elbows. She looked perplexed at the people gathering around her. She turned to look at me and stared right in my eyes with the elated expression of someone who has just remembered something important that had been haunting them.

"They were fairies!" I just barely heard her whisper excitedly to me. "They were the People!"

Soon after the instructor arrived, Louisa's arms gave up on her and she dropped to the hard floor with a thump, unconscious.

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**Fowl Manor**

"I haven't invented anything like that; there's no need for that, really," Foaly said on the television.

I had contacted Foaly and Holly as soon as I got back home. Louisa knew many things about the People but the memories were repressed for some reason. I had asked Foaly if he had created some sort of device that could suppress one's memories.

"If we do have to get rid of some one's memories, you know we would just _mesmerize_ or mind wipe them," Foaly stated what I already knew. "What exactly did this mud girl say?"

"Louisa, that's her name, said that the People lived underground and roughly described the Ritual. She even knew Tara has a Transport location!" I relayed.

The instructor had carried the unconscious Louisa to the nurse's office. She woke up a few hours later with an awful migraine and no memory of the incident but oddly craved acorns and chocolate.

"Hmm. It really doesn't sound like anything we have," Holly thought out loud. "Were her pupils ragged? She might have been _mesmerized_ and was remembering what someone didn't want her to remember, though it's highly unlikely."

I shook my head. "No, her eyes were fine. She also claims not to remember anything that she said. Perhaps someone has been inventing things without your noticing," I suggested.

Foaly started to tap away on his keyboard and looked to another screen. "No one could be doing that without me noticing. I always know when those kinds of things happen. Always." He muttered quietly about permits and bad inventions to himself.

He turned back to Artemis and said, "Nothing like that's been invented. Underground or above. If you ask me, I think it's rather pointless. Why make someone forget something but still have the memory of it? Completely useless! And whoever made it, made it very badly if the person can still remember the memories."

Holly added, "And it couldn't have been a mind wipe gone wrong because the way the mind wipe works doesn't leave any trace of the memory, at least nothing comprehensible to the brain. As for where this girl got this information, I don't know." Holly exhaled sharply and continued. "We can only hope that she isn't faking about not remembering what she said and leave it at that; just another mud girl who knows nothing about us."

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**Les thoughts? Preferably in the form of a comment? Favorite/follows also appreciated :) I'd like to get more than 5 for the next chapter to go up :) On a side note, does anyone else write/read Artemis's parts in an Irish accent? Because whenever I write his part or when I finished the last book, I was speaking in an irish accent for hours haha xx**


	3. A Nook in the Wall

**I felt so dramatic writing this haha. I did my makeup like a zombie today... For using only my fingers and some CVS eyeshadow pallets, I did pretty dang well! I even scared my friend haha. I WAS BEAUTIMOUS Y'ALL.**

**Dedication: To *at*Higginator and *at*Mahoniggas from twitter for tweeting about bacon and to the generl twitter population for tweeting about twerking so much in ended up in my story. You guys rock.**

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**Louisa's POV**

"Louisa, get UP!"

I groaned and rolled over in bed, tangling myself further in my deep purple sheets. I cracked one eye open. The room was dark and no light came from the window, probably meaning it was not even dawn yet. So why on EARTH was my friend Deryn nearly knocking my door down?!

"Louisa, don't make me come in there!" Deryn shouted through the door. "You've already missed your first two classes."

I bolted upright. I missed classes? I turned my alarm clock towards me. It read 9:56. Oh shit. I leaped out of bed, dragging my bed covers with me as I stumbled to the bathroom.

_My dad is going to _kill _me if I miss any more classed; I was in enough trouble from changing the cafeteria menu to everything bacon, _I though worriedly as I squeezed some toothpaste on my toothbrush. In my rush I accidently squeezed out a LOT more than I needed. Like half the freaking tube. All over the sink and walls, too. I just scraped the amount I needed from the mirror and ran back into my room.

"Give me five minutes!" I shouted while brushing my teeth and finding a clean uniform to wear. I opened my wardrobe and a mountain of clothes tumbled out. I dug through the ocean of clothes and eventually found a clean uniform to wear at the bottom of the pile. I shoved it on while rinsing my mouth.

There was no time to lace up my usual knee-high combat boots so I dropped to my knees in front of my bed and groped under it till I found a pair of sequenced black and silver flats in a nest of dust bunnies. No time for contacts either so I grabbed my thin wire glasses from my dresser. In the full length mirror on my door, I saw that my auburn hair looked like a chicken was nesting in it. I grabbed a hair tier and my text books before rushing out the door.

"About time, Louisa," my other friend Bess remarked. "We were wondering where you were in morning; you're always up early to get the best bacon at breakfast."

"Overslept," I muttered with a half shrug. I'm not really the kind of person who usually sleeps till noon. I am more of a morning person oddly enough for a teenager. "Suppose I'm tired from yesterday's… dance class, shall we say," I vaguely explained; I really didn't want to mention me fainting because it was so embarrassing. My skirt probably flew up and everything. I cringed at the thought.

Deryn and Bess nodded understandingly.

Together we set off for the ballroom, nearly all the way across campus. Outside the clouds were dark and threatening to pour rain on us any second. Awesome day to wear flats, Louisa.

We were a motley crew, the three of us. Bess kept her softly colored uniform femininely tailored while Deryn on the other hand was a Tomboy, complete with a uniform that was a squick baggy and short blonde hair. To be honest, I have no idea if she's going to wear a dress at the Spring Festival Ball. She'd rather be covered spices than put on a dress. And then there was me. Good ol' colorful me. We were all very different but misfits gravitate.

We finally made it to the building the ballroom was a wing of before the heavens opened. The ballroom was the west wing of the Creative Arts building. There everything to do with art-sculptures, painting, sewing, etc.-, music, and drama was taught, built, and preformed. It's four stories tall and, if I do say so myself, the most colorful building on campus. The art students really took it to themselves to decorate this building to near death but somehow it turned out quite beautiful.

I pushed open the heavy wooden door, which was decorated in striking bronze metalwork. Deryn and Bess gave quick waves and hurried to the crowd for kids watching the instructors. As I walked over to the coat hooks and tied up my wild hair, Artemis came walking up. He looked a bit shocked but then resumed his normal look of infinite boredom.

"You look…rushed," he said carefully. I looked at myself. One knee-high sock had fallen and pooled around my ankle. My blouse was only half tucked in and my tie was just hanging, undone, around my neck. And I didn't have to look but I knew my hair looked like a bird's nest. I bet I looked freaking gorgeous.

I grimaced. "I overslept and was in very much of a rush." I rubbed my tired eyes and said, "Let's go see what they're teaching today."

I really was in no mood or state to deal with Artemis today. He had the reputation around campus of a cocky genius with an attitude and more than obvious distaste of most people. Which is an eloquent way of saying he's a really smart twat. I groaned inwardly at the thought of having to put up with his sarcastic comments for an hour. Why can't he just lighten up a bit and be nice? This gives me an idea…

After watching the instructors for a few minutes, we all spread across the shiny dance floor to try out the dance for ourselves. I automatically strode over to a spot near a window from which a little light came through whenever the clouds gave out a burst of lightning. The instructors were trying to find the right cd to play while we stood around. Time to put my wild plan into motion.

I sighed and turned to Artemis. "Listen. How about we start over? It's going to be awful spending half the year with someone you're constantly arguing with." He didn't say anything so I his silence as an agreement. I continued awkwardly, "So… Hello, I'm Louisa. I can't wait to dance the Quadrille. How 'bout you?"

"I'm Artemis," he said, playing along. "This class is very interesting. It amusing to watch modern teenagers attempting to dance to something invented hundreds of years before they were even born."

The corners of my lips pointed up ever so slightly. "Indeed it is quite amusing. Especially when the most complicated dance move they probably know is twerking."

He looked extremely confused about the "twerking" comment but before he could ask what it was, the instructors found the cd and we began our dance. We started slow then got gradually faster. We danced in friendly silence, I guess you could call it. We didn't argue but didn't really talk yet it wasn't awkward. Well, since both of us aren't exactly the most coordinated people ever, the faster dancing caused a lot of fumbling and stepping on feet which was a serious invasion of personal space at one point. So that was rather awkward but nothing too bad. I mean, it was pretty awkward considering we nearly ran into each other but I've sure been through worse. Much, much worse. _I really should invent brain bleach or something, _I thought as all those horribly awkward and embarrassing memories flooded my mind.

After repeating the steps so much we could (theoretically) do it in our sleep, they let us go. I waved to Bess and Deryn as they went to Literature. I had study hall next so I went to my dorm to grab the textbooks I failed to bring with me in my mad rush in the morning. I dashed across the campus to the girl's dorm through the pouring rain. As I entered the building, a crack of thunder exploded in the dark sky.

The dorms had three floors and were assigned two or three grades, older girls on the high floors and younger on the lower. Each floor had a kitchenette, game room, and a living room. But being eldest, the older girls had more junk food and electronics. Boys' dorms are set up basically the same way.

Being a freshman, my room was on the first floor, very conveniently near the snack cabinet. I unlocked my door and nearly stepped on a picture, hurrying into the room. I kicked the door closed and picked up the picture. A stone cottage sat in the background of the picture while a calm looking river bent around it and disappeared over the hills. An ancient tree grew by the left of the house and acorns littered the ground. A little girl, around ten or so, stood in the center proudly gesturing to a garden of delicate white flowers. A large sunhat covered most of her face.

Seems normal, right? It was except _it was the house I saw in my head._ The one I remembered from yesterday, right before I passed out. It was the same down to the last miniscule detail. But yesterday it was just a dream… How could this place be real?

I flipped the photograph over. In small, looping handwriting, someone had written "Mora Luxor, age 10, 1987" I've heard that name before. I tapped my fingers against my cheek, thinking.

Suddenly I snapped my fingers. The White Lux Garden! It grew right against the border the woods and was hardly visited but was beautiful. The same delicate white flowers grew there as in the picture. A plaque in the gazebo stated that the entire garden was made in honor of a sophomore student Mora Luxor. But, how did this picture get here? And who was this girl? I dropped my books and picked up a small brown leather bag. Before heading out, I grabbed a handful of multicolored, marble sized spheres hidden in one of my drawers.

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I held my arms over my head to protect me from the pouring rain as I sprinted to the main office. I hid just inside a hallway in the office. A young, brunette lady worked as secretary at a wide desk in the intersection of the hallway I was in and the one leading to the student records. I could've used the secretary's computer but that lady was more addicted to Facebook and Twitter than some of the teenagers and fangirls I knew. Good thing the school kept hard copies of all the student files. Bad thing was 1) Facebook lady had ears like a hawk and 2) the files were in the basement. Luckily, I had broken into the student records a few times in the past so I had come prepared.

I pulled out a couple of vibrant spheres and the slingshot from my bag. I had invented them after a lab accident with the ingredients in the little spheres. Being as clumsy as a drunk elephant, I had accidentally knocked a few extra ingredients into my AP chemistry project. The mixture created a colorful cloud of thick fog. You can't see through it but it doesn't cause any bad side effects so it was handy in these such situations.

Aiming carefully, I used my slingshot to shot two mini color bombs into the copy room. The room where the internet router just so happens to reside. They made a soft clicking noise as they hit the door and bounced into something hard, probably the copy machine. A couple seconds later, there were two medium explosions. Pink and green clouds wafted out the room. Facebook lady leaped up with a yelp and dived into the room to make sure the internet router was fine.

I ran bent over across the hall and flew down the stairs amazingly not tripping to my doom in that dark. I flicked on the lights at the bottom. There was a slight layer of dust everywhere because no one came here often. Except for the occasional overly curious or overly nosey student. Much like moi. I tread softly down the aisles, the lights overhead flickering due to underuse.

The older files were at the back. I wrinkled my nose at the mustiness and stale smell of basement. I finally found the cabinets marked "1993" which should be when Mora was sixteen, a sophomore.

I cringed at the creaking noise the drawer made and hoped it couldn't be heard upstairs. I quickly located the "L' files. Strangely Luxor wasn't there. I tried Mora. Nothing found there either. I slammed the drawer back in annoyance, completely forgetting to be quiet. The force of my push sent the cabinet noisily rolling to the side. I went around to the back to shove it back in place when I saw a hole in the wall near the floor. I heaved the cabinet farther away and fell to my knees. I stuck my hand into the wall and felt around. All I felt was damp concrete with literally an inch of dust. I reached farther back, battling repulsion as I batted aside spider webs and possibly a few resident spiders. My fingers finally brushed against a hard box. I grabbed it and pulled it out, dust and all. It was surprisingly heavy.

The wooden box was about the size of a shoebox and beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl details. The intricate gold lock was broken. I opened the box and discovered it was full of papers. The top paper was a section newspaper article. The article read:

_**Local Girl Goes Missing from Prestigious School**_

_A local girl Mora Luxor, 16, had been reading outside on a bench near the Creative Arts Building at St. Bartleby's. Her friends left her for second to get food for a study-picnic. When they came back all that was left was Luxor's fairy book, fallen in a mud puddle from yesterday's rain storm. Her friends called for her and searched the area but Luxor could not be found. When the girls were about to report to the main office, a piercing shriek resounded from the nearby woods. The girls, terrified of the scream and whatever was lurking in the forest, dropped everything and ran. They arrived breathless at the main office crying "Mora is gone, Mora's gone!" Officials were called and search parties organized but Mora Luxor is yet to be found._

I gasped in horror after I read the article. By the looks of the rest of the papers, her body was never found. Under all the papers, I found an old book covered in dried muddy that fell off in large chunks. It was leather-bound and the gold-gilded title had almost completely rubbed off. Almost. Bringing the book in the light I could see that the title was "Fairy Myths and Legends" It was Mora's book. I was sure of it. I almost dropped it in shock.

I stuffed everything back in the box and slid it in my bag. I pushed the heavy cabinet back in place. Then I ran up the stairs and to my dorm like the hounds of hell themselves were chasing me. Who would slide the picture of a girl with a gruesome past under my door?

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**CLIFFHANGER ENDING DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNN! So how'd y'all like this chapeter? Tell me in a review :) And school for me has started ugh so updates might start to take a while longer. Sorry y'all! xxxx**


	4. DEFINITELY Not a Bunny

**Artemis came out sounding so sassy in this chapter lol! I just channeled my inner Louis Tomlinson and Scott Disick and this chapter happened haha! I was also listening to sassy music while editing ha. Swagger Jagger by Cher Lloyd is quite the tuuunnnee! This chapter is where the action really starts!**

**Dedication: Sassy people everywhere. **

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**Artemis's POV**

I was examining the intricate cravings in the wood beside the door when Louisa walked into the ball room, late as usual. She looked healthier today, wearing bright but simple makeup again and her hair in a messy bun which I assumed was fashionable, but then again could have just been put up in a rush. Who knows with Louisa? Her messenger bag looked exceptionally chunky and whatever it was was heavy by the loud thump it made when she dropped it on the floor.

I walked up to her and said, "Hello. You seem better today." I kept with the idea she presented yesterday of "starting fresh." It was the best approach to extract more information about what she knew, or didn't, about fairies.

Louisa was frowning and had her pale eyebrows bunched together. "Hmm… Oh, hi," she said distractedly. She seemed to snap out of it and turned sharply to me. "Hey, do you-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off by a loud violin solo. One of the instructors rushed to turn down the stereo while she shouted, "Places people, places! Reviewing what we learned yesterday, we'll start with the Quadrille then the Waltz."

Louisa rolled her eyes and walked to her favorite place by the window. The wind had blown the storm clouds from yesterday away so the bright sun shone through the windows leaving colorful designs on the shiny floor. It was beautiful so I see why she would prefer here.

When we started dancing, rather badly as we were both horribly uncoordinated, Louisa seemed to remember that she was asking something before she was interrupted.

"So, uh," she stuttered, suddenly bashful. "What do you know about, er, fairies? Just, you know, for conversation and whatnot." The last sentence was rushed together and sounded more like one word.

I raised my eyebrow. "Fairies?" So she actually remembered something about yesterday? Quite peculiar since she said she had not remembered anything during her fit a few days ago.

"Well," she started then looked over her shoulder. "When I had my, er, meltdown a couple of days ago, I said some things and I remember you looked like you recognized them. Among other things…"

I gave her a droll look to keep up my act. "Why on earth would I care about little make-believe creatures? Also, I thought you did not remember anything you said then."

Louisa shook her head impatiently and waved her hand dismissively. "I pretended to forget so people would stop bugging me. As for why you would care, I…" She stopped abruptly.

"Go on," I said after a second, a bit curious now. The music had suddenly gotten scratchy for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"Well," she drawled. "Don't tell anyone official looking but, someone slipped an old picture of this girl who studied here but went missing. I looked for her files but there were none even though one of the gardens is named after her. But when I, er, _nudged _one of the cabinets aside, I found a hole in the wall with a box in it. It had all of the girl's files in it and then some!" Louisa paused and took a breath before continuing at her rapid fire pace.

"Apparently when she went missing she was reading a fairy book and it was in the box, too. She had written a bunch of notes and she found a fairy rule book of sorts and was deciphering it. According to what she wrote, and the little of it I read so far, she had actually met a fairy! Can you believe that?!" She looked very excited but slightly confused as to why I wasn't as excited. Do I really look like the kind of person who would show so much excitement about something or "fangirl" as young people called it, over something? Please.

I stared at her in shock but quickly covered it as a look of unbelieving. But I still was in shock from her outburst of information. Could Louisa have really found a book with all the secrets of the People just waiting to be discovered? Could this girl who gathered this information have really met a fairy?

"Do you have this book with you?" I asked, genuinely curious and a tad worried.

Louisa grinned. "Of course I do. It's in my bag," she said matter-of-factly.

I hesitated for a second before asking, "Can I see it when this period ends? I have study hall then."

She looked up at the vaulted ceiling in an exaggerated thinking position, tilting her head this way and that, "hmm"ing overdramatically.

"Well," she began, still staring at the ornate ceiling. "I have lunch next and I'm really hungry and they're serving bacon sundaes today, but I don't want people seeing that book so…" She tilted her head down and looked me straight in the eyes, emerald green to blue and hazel, eyebrows arched in a goading expression. Oh, I get it. She wanted to see if I really cared enough about this book to beg. Well, two can play at this game.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," I said dismissively. "It's just some story book. What interest do I have in silly fairy tales, anyway?" I gave her an equally goading expression.

The music failed again. Pretty much everyone, including Louisa and me, stopped dancing while the instructors went to try to fix it.

Louisa shrugged indifferently. "Oh, well. I thought you'd be more interested in it. Guess I'll have to decode it myself." She wandered over to the window when the music did not resume.

"Okay, listen up ninth grade!" one of the instructors called from across the room. She ran a tanned hand through her dark hair. "The CD player has broken so class is adjourned for today. Be prepared for a vigorous review tomorrow." She and her tall companion went to examine the damaged CD player.

"Awesome! More time for me to translate that book," Louisa muttered excitedly. She started to meander to the huge double doors at the front of the hall, her hair falling out of its bun as she twisted locks around in thought.

The curiosity was too much. I caught up to Louisa by the door and tapped her shoulder. She turned, her heavy messenger bag slipping from her shoulder.

"Yes Artemis?" she queried, her Boston accent making my name sound more like "Ah-temis."

"I have decided to take a look at your book," I said exasperated. "A quick look."

Louisa smirked. "I knew you would," she said sounding very self-satisfied. "Meet me at the far corner of the White Lux Garden in a few." She pivoted and flounced away.

I was left standing there, shaking my head. There was something wrong with that girl.

* * *

I strode through the wide arch of the White Lux Garden. Spread out in front of me was an ocean of diverse white flowers. Woven into the light brown arch were flawless white roses, the thorns almost double that of the size of normal roses. A strong breeze sent the perfume of many flowers across to me. I followed a variegated stone path to the farthest corner of the garden that bordered against the Creative Arts Building.

Louisa was sitting on a weathered old bench reading a thick tome. Beside her was a wooden box inlaid with ornate mother-of-pearl about the size of a shoebox.

She looked up when she heard me approaching. "Finally. Come look." She scooted over moving the box with her to make room for me.

I sat on the bench next to her and peered at the book. On the left was a half-finished key for the Gnomish alphabet stapled in. The right side was hollowed out in a circle about five inches in diameter. Louisa herself was holding a sheaf of yellowing paper with translations scrawled across.

"Interesting," I said, absent-mindedly checking the translations. "Where the Book?"

She looked at me quizzically. "This is it." Then realizing what I meant. "Oh, you mean the rule book." She half turned to rifle through the box. She turned back, Book in hand. "Say, how did you know it was called the Book?"

"I, uh, just didn't think to add that I meant the rule book," I stuttered, mentally cursing myself for letting the word slip and then cursing myself again for stuttering at all. Artemis Fowl does not stutter.

Louisa eyed suspiciously. "Sure," she said slowly and handed the Book over to me. "I read through some of the notes and found out the name of it."

I took it and flipped through the pages. Indeed it was the Book. I wonder what poor fairy got conned into losing their Book.

"Oh!" Louisa exclaimed while she shuffled through a bunch of paper. "I had found something really intriguing earlier but now I lost it… Found it!" She held up an exceptionally old piece of paper.

Right at that moment, a forceful gust of wind blew all the papers across the picturesque garden.

"Catch them!" Louisa cried. She ran towards the woods after a clump of notes.

I calmly walked over to a few pages flying around an apple tree in full blossom. I gathered a cluster that had lodged themselves in the branches and stood on my toes for one floating above my head. I walked swiftly back to the bench and stowed them neatly in the box along with the others.

I was composing myself after almost running when I heard a rustling originating from a nearby bush. I walked over to investigate when something with bright red hair jumped out at me with a loud shriek. I tripped over backwards and tumbled to the ground. Louisa landed next to me on all fours. She was laughing.

"What was that for?" I asked stunned. Luckily I had missed a giant mud puddle by inches. Not that I'd care if this suit was ruined; it's not even designer. Bu my dorm was half way across campus and walking around covered in mud was most indecent.

"Sorry," she said convulsing with laughter. "I couldn't resist! You're just so easy to scare." She sobered enough to stand up and offered a hand. I noticed she had the cord attached to the Book around her wrist.

I ignored her assistance and stood up on my own. I gestured vaguely to her and the bush and asked simply, "Why?"

"I was caught all the papers in the woods when I heard something rustle. I found a little white bunny but it hopped away before I could get close. Then I heard you coming… And simply couldn't resist," she said innocently but with a mischievous grin.

Another rustle came from the bush. Louisa turned and crouched down to investigate.

"Awwh! I think the bunny's come back. Here bunny, bunny," she cooed. A small tuft of white peeked out of the bush. "Here dearie. Come here."

Suddenly a pale hand shot out and grabbed Louisa's wrist. "What the-" She shook her arm but the hand was firmly grasped. She tried to pry off the fingers. In retaliation, the creature slapped Louisa's prying hand. Louisa fell back and cradled her abused hand, the Book still attached by the thin cord.

I knelt down and peered into the bush. "Did you see what it was?" I asked genuinely concerned.

"DEFINITELY not a bunny," she cried. "I think it wanted the Book though." Her eyes looked worried. She braced her hands on the ground to push herself up. Immediately the hand shot out and grabbed Louisa's wrist, the one with the Book attached. Louisa dropped back and straightaway tried to pry the short, scaly fingers off.

"Artemis, help me!" Louisa grunted. I kneeled down and tried to help her. The other hand reached out and slapped my hands away and tried to slap Louisa's away but it was in vain; Louisa was determined. Aggravated, the creature bit Louisa's hand hard. She screamed and fell back. The Book dropped into the bush where the creature snatched it up and started running.

Louisa cursed and started after the creature. I caught her shoulder and spun her around.

"What are you doing?" she growled. "I got to get the Book back!" She wrenched herself away from me and sprinted in the woods.

Without thinking, I ran after her. Every now and then I would catch a glimpse of the creature running. It was pale with snow white hair and claret colored eyes behind round metal glasses. It was pulling ahead because I was no Usain Bolt and hardly fit enough to run this much. _I should've listened to Butler and worked out a bit; it would come in handy in times like these, _I thought as I struggled to keep up with the creature and Louisa.

Abruptly, the forest opened up to a wide field with a giant oak tree in the middle. The tree bark was black, unlike any tree I've studied. The leaves were also black and slightly luminescent because the veins seemed to shine silver. And Louisa was chasing the pallid creature right up to it.

"Louisa, wait!" I yelled across the field. She paused at the foot of the massive tree. I reached her and the tree, panting and muscles on fire.

"Help me climb up," she asked urgently. "He's getting away!"

"Why do you want the Book so much? It's probably just a storybook for children" I asked while gasping for breath. No sense in hinting that the Book was real and very important.

She looked confused and a bit scared. "I… don't know. But I need to get it back." With that, she started climbing the tree, grasping for hand- and footholds where ever she could find them. Knowing I couldn't climb the tree, I stayed on the ground.

Up close I could now clearly see the surface of the tree. It looked sick and diseased with gray and white spots dotting the bark but clearly was still alive because there were new sprouts on the trunk. I was tapping the trunk trying to figure out what was wrong with it when something hard hit my head.

"Sorry!" Louisa hallooed from far above while clutching a branch for dear life. Wait, not a branch… It was a railing! It was cleverly disguised as a branch with leaves and a rough texture. And apparently very old because what had hit me was a section of the railing that broke off when Louisa grabbed it for support.

My thought was interrupted by a shriek. I looked up and found Louisa suspended in midair by a semi-transparent sheet of black. She sat up and bounced.

"It's a trampoline! Who the hell puts a freakin' trampoline in a tree?" she cussed from high in the tree. She jumped up and started climbing again, leaving my sight. Now that I looked, webs of the stretchy black material covered many areas between branches.

I walked around to the other side of the tree. Surprisingly enough, there was a steep staircase carved into it. I climbed up the stairs, which wound it's the way to the top. There I could see Louisa and the pale creature running around in a frantic cat-and-mouse chase.

All of a sudden, the creature tackled Louisa, knocking her on a thin walkway. I now could see the creature. It was an elf! Albeit an albino one but one of the People nonetheless. The elf must have been arguing with Louisa because she very loudly and rudely suggested the elf do something anatomically impossible with himself.

Louisa managed to get up only to be grabbed from behind and dragged… into the trunk of the tree? I carefully climbed the branches to see where Louisa had gone. It turns out there was a hole in the trunk. The albino elf stopped on the edge of it.

Without turning around he said, "Well, well, well. We finally meet, Artemis Fowl." He turned his head to look at me. His skin was scaled and milky. "Too bad it will only be for a second." With that, he jumped into the trunk.

I scrambled closer to the trunk and peered over the edge of the deep hole. Louisa was collapsed at the bottom, injured but conscious. She looked up, saw me, and leapt to her feet to try to climb out. I reached out a hand to assist her.

The wall opposite her started rumbling and broke open. A hairy face with tombstone teeth grinned up at me before seizing Louisa and dragging her down the tunnel.

"Go get help!" she screamed. "Help me, Artemis!" Her screams faded as the dwarf pulled her swiftly down the tunnel.

The elf stepped into view. Grinning, he said arrogantly, "Nice meeting you, Artemis Fowl. And thanks for lending us your girlfriend. I hope neither I nor she ever sees you again." He saluted pompously and strutted down the tunnel.

I slumped back on the branch, head in hands. What was I going to do?

* * *

**Hoooo that was long! Took so long to edit and totally worth it to me. Mind telling me if it was worth all that time to edit or not? :) And this was the last planned chapter. I have no idea what the fuck I'm writing now :-)))))) But hopefully it turns out good and coherent. And preferably done quickly. Mostly likely not. Aha ha. Til next chapter PEACE OUT YOU SEXY MOFOS xxx**


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